Marcellus Shale Threatens to Bankrupt European Petchem Industry
In reading a fascinating story about European chemical plant giant Ineos, the article took an unexpected turn when it said Ineos, indeed all of Europe’s petrochemical industry, is “vulnerable as never before because of the shale oil and gas boom in the US, which has made energy costs there just a fraction of those in Europe.” The article specifically names and credits the Marcellus with producing feedstock that is far cheaper than can be found in Europe–and chemical plants are now choosing to relocate and manufacture their products in the U.S. rather than Europe. The inescapable conclusion: if the United Kingdom (and Europe) refuses to frack, they’re hosed. Ineos, which has figured this out, has “quietly” purchased “some interesting onshore fracking licences” in the UK, and they intend to use them…
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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (extreme partisan) has recommended to the White House that Richard Glick, current a Senate staffer and former lobbyist for the wind industry, should succeed Democrat FERC Commissioner Colette Honorable. That’s according to “three industry sources with knowledge of the decision.” So far the White House is mum and refuses to “get ahead of an official announcement.” Our advice to President Trump: Don’t do ANYTHING recommended by Chucky Schumer…
UK oil and gas giant BP released the 2017 edition of their BP Energy Outlook on Tuesday. BP, being a European company, pays homage to renewables and pledges its undying love for the crappy Paris climate treaty. Whatever. There are a few facts from the Outlook that stand out: (1) By 2035, across the entire world, 78% of all energy will come from fossil fuels. So much for renewables riding in to the save us all “any day now.” (2) In 2015, natgas produced 24% of the world’s energy. BP says in 2035 that number will go up to 25%–just a single percentage point. We think that’s grossly underestimated, but who are we? (3) The U.S. will achieve overall energy self-sufficiency by 2023 (last year they estimated it would happen in 2021). (4) Carbon emissions were flat for a third year in a row, driven by “weak energy demand and a cleaner energy mix,” which includes the use of more natgas. Tell us again why we need the Paris climate treaty, when carbon output is going down without it? (5) The U.S. will be neck-in-neck with Australia, but we will likely be *the* dominate LNG supplier worldwide by 2035. Read the full BP report below…
Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin say they’ve found a better/cheaper/faster way to remove oil from water. Which obviously would have a huge impact on the shale industry and the prodigious amounts of produced water (i.e. wastewater) that comes out of wells long after they’re drilled. The UT researchers, in a paper published in the Journal of Nanoparticle Research, reveal how they use nanoparticles and a magnet to separate oil from water. In fact, they filed a short, 10-second video that illustrates the process. In just a few seconds, oil embedded in water collects in one location when a magnet is put next to it. Really cool stuff! Is this the future of shale wastewater treatment?…
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Activists tell basin commissioners to ban drilling and fracking in the Delaware Watershed; EPA moves to halt Obama methane rule for two years; is shale productivity bumping up against its limits?; oil glut slows demand for shale-oil drilling; North American pipeline capacity crisis looms large; wind and solar in March accounted for 10% of U.S. electricity generation for first time; and more!
An article in the left-leaning Harrisburg Patriot-News has this incendiary opening: “Is it ‘abnormally dangerous’ to drill and frack for oil under a massive oil refinery, particularly if that well is bored beneath a tank filled with 3.6 million gallons of gasoline? A decision issued by a divided Commonwealth Court panel on Monday will give a Pennsylvania community a chance to find out.” In a court decision filed on Monday, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania will allow a driller to drill and frack a well that is close to (but not directly underneath) the above-ground 3.6 million gallon petroleum tank. At first blush, especially when reading an opening like the one in the Patriot-News story, the average reader would think such a plan is stark raving mad. But when you dig into the details, a far different story emerges. As usual, mainstream media misrepresents many of the facts. We’re here to sort it out for you…
Every now and again anti-fossil fuel nutters in New York will pop up from whatever hole they live in to claim that the couple of NY landfills accepting drill cuttings (leftover rock and dirt) from PA shale drilling will result in an environmental apocalypse. One landfill in particular, in Chemung County, seems to be the focus of their ire (see 
Duke Energy needs to replace an aging pipeline, built in the 1950s, near Cincinnati, OH–or some people in Cincy will have to go without natural gas (see 
As we reported yesterday, the first two (of four) public hearings were held on Monday by the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) to elicit comments on the proposed $3 billion, 198-mile Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline, an expansion of Williams’ Transco Pipeline system (see 
Although headquartered in Radnor, Pennsylvania (near Philadelphia), Penn Virginia Corporation is an oil and gas driller with (at last check) only a small presence in the Marcellus Shale: 21,700 net acres with no drilled wells. They concentrate on oil drilling the Texas Eagle Ford Shale play. Penn Virginia is one of the Philly area’s oldest companies, started in 1882 by Philadelphia coal barons. It later transitioned into an oil company. MDN told you in March 2015 that Penn Virginia’s top stockholder, the vile corporate raider George Soros, forced the company to put itself up for sale so George can line his pockets with more cash (see 
According to an article appearing on Forbes, “The sell-off of oil and gas exploration and production stocks has been brutal. Exchange-traded funds that specialize in the sector have fallen around 10% to 20% this year, versus an 8% uptick in the market overall.” Why? Low oil prices. Several analysts are quoted as saying the market is “ripe” for some companies to sell themselves. In a companion story today, we covered one such rumor–that Penn Virginia Energy is shopping itself. An analyst with Williams Capital Group has offered up a list of five such companies he believes may be next. Note we said “may.” There’s lots of hedging in this prediction. This is one analyst, albeit an experience analyst, spitballing about what “may” happen. The final entry in his list of five companies that “may” get sold this year is none other than Gulfport Energy, an Oklahoma City-based independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company that is a “top 5” driller in the Ohio Utica Shale. One alternative to selling itself, according to the analyst, is that Gulfport could sell it’s 24% interest in oilfield services company Mammoth Energy Services…
If you’re deeply involved, or even peripherally involved, with the Marcellus/Utica, there are two events each year that you should attend. One of those events is 
It doesn’t happen often, but every now and again we read about driller or (in this case) pipeline company operating in the Marcellus/Utica we had never heard of before. Such is the case today. A new (to us) midstream company, XcL Midstream, has formed and is already building a dry gas gathering pipeline system in West Virginia, with plans to build a wet gas gathering system in WV too. According to its website, XcL “operates in the premier region of the Appalachia basin in Marshall and Wetzel Counties, West Virginia. XcL Midstream’s Appalachia Connector Pipeline is strategically located at the intersection of every major long-haul interstate pipeline system in Southwest Appalachia and provides shippers with market price optionality.” XcL plans to gather and process dry gas, wet gas (i.e. natural gas liquids), and transport water for its customers. XcL has its headquarters in Canonsburg, PA, near Pittsburgh. The reason that the company popped up on our radar is because Platts ran an article announcing that XcL has signed a customer–THQ Appalachia I, an affiliate of Tug Hill–to use 600 million cubic feet per day (Mmcf/d) on the dry gas pipeline, 200 Mmcf/d on the wet gas pipeline system, and to use a forthcoming water pipeline to boot. Here’s the thing: both XcL and THQ/Tug Hill are backed by private equity company Quantum Energy Partners. So apparently this is one of Quantum’s portfolio companies doing business with another of Quantum’s portfolio companies. In essence, one cousin helping out the other cousin. Perhaps we can call them kissin’ cousins?…